Yard MD: Miniature hostas fuel big garden dreams

May 15, 2014

Bright gold, edged in darker green, Cracker Crumbs is a popular small hosta that features rippled, twisting petals for a lively garden addition. / ROB ZIMMER/Post-Crescent Media

HOSTAS BY THE BAYThe Midwest Regional Hosta Convention will be held June 26-28 at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Green Bay. Besides speakers and demonstrations, a number of garden tours are planned, including gardens in Appleton, Freedom, Seymour, Oshkosh, Hobart and Green Bay. For more information, visit www.greenandgoldhosta.org/2014-convention.html

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This year, dozens of new “minis” will be available to gardeners to provide a season-long journey into the fun, addicting world of gardening with miniature hostas.

The search for the newest and most unusual minis takes hosta hunters far and wide to visit the best hosta growers, online websites, plant sales and other sources of these tiny treasures.

Miniature hostas make great accent and border plants, as well as elements that can be included in rock gardens, fairy or miniature gardens, children’s gardens, containers and more.

Available in all of the same colors, textures, color patterns and growth habits of their larger cousins, miniature hostas make it possible for just about anyone to grow hostas in their yard and garden, even on a small porch or patio. Small and miniature hostas are differentiated by the American Hosta Society based on specific criteria such as mature clump size. But I lump them together here and include a variety of small plants. As many growers know, even a “miniature” hosta can grow quite large if left undisturbed for several years.

You can find these and many more at several area garden centers and hosta nurseries, including Rose-Hill Gardens, Hobart; Pondside Gardens, Kiel; Stein Garden and Gifts, Appleton, Oshkosh and two Green Bay area locations; and The Hosta Stop, Plover. You’re sure to see tons of them at this year’s Midwest Regional Hosta Society convention, to be held in Green Bay June 26-28.

Here’s your guide to some of the best miniature varieties available, as well as a few new ones to whet your appetite.

Blue Mouse Ears

Enjoy the miniature hosta that started it all, complete with thick leaves and a beautiful blue color. Dozens of sports, or offspring, of this plant have become available. Royal Mouse Ears is a beautiful marbled or streaked version in blue and white. The hard-to-find Green Mouse Ears is an all green version.

Mighty Mouse

A beautifully variegated version of blue mouse ears, featuring cream colored foliage with a green center.

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Lemontini

One of a series of “tini” hostas that also includes Appletini, Limetini and Azuretini, this series features small, brightly colored hostas. Mix and match for sparkle in any garden bed or container.

Pandora's Box

Royal Tiara

A wonderfully elegant, small hosta featuring chartreuse leaves with a white central stripe. The leaves twist and fold, creating wonderful motion in the garden.

Church Mouse

Beautiful, ruffled version of blue mouse ears that features leaves with frilled margins. Ruffled Mouse Ears and Dancing Mouse are similar, if not nearly identical.

Itty Bitty

A hard to find sport of Green Mouse Ears, this plant features a white center flecked with green and a thin, green margin to the leaves. Available at Rose-Hill Gardens, Hobart.

Giantland Mouse Cheese

An all-gold version of Blue Mouse Ears. One that many miniature hosta collectors have been waiting for.

Corkscrew

One of the most unusual and beautiful small hostas, Corkscrew features deep green, thin, wiry leaves that twist and ripple upward and outward to create a striking hosta with a wholly different look. Tilt-A-Whirl is an all-blue version.

Hacksaw

With thin, rigid, heavily serrated leaves that radiate straight outward like the spokes of a wheel, this is a hosta like no other.

Cracker Crumbs

Silver Threads and Golden Needles

A touchy, small hosta that some growers have trouble with, the small, gold leaves feature a light green center, misted and streaked with silver and green. A new sport released last year, called simply Golden Needles, features gold leaves flecked with green speckles.

Slim and Trim

Unusual among miniature and small hostas for its thin, twisted, powdery blue leaves.

Teaspoon

Another very unusual hosta with layers of tiny, teaspoon shaped leaves, slightly cupped, that form a beautiful and one-of-a-kind clump.

Little Treasure

Long, slightly folded, twisted leaves are blue with a wide white center. Forms a thick, lush clump in the garden.

Tiny Tears

Among the smallest of the smallest, this truly miniature hosta features tiny, deep green leaves.